Paper slip transport system

ABSTRACT

Guide passages I for guiding bills S to a main transport passage M are formed. An endless belt 25 coming in contact with one face of each bill S is placed in the main transport passage M. Feed rollers 70 coming in contact with one face of each bill entering the guide passages, swing arms 74 swingably attached to a rotating shaft 73 of the feed roller, pressure rollers 27 rotatably attached to the swing arms so as to come in contact with the feed rollers 70, and coil springs 75 for urging the swing arms 74 in a direction approaching the endless belt 25 are provided upstream of the main transport passage when the guide passage I is considered to be the center of the main transport passage M. The feed roller 70 comes in contact with the pressure roller 27 rotated by motion of the endless belt 25 and is rotated by rotation of the pressure roller for transporting bills in the guide passage.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to a paper slip transport system for guidingpaper slips from paper slip dischargers, scattered along a maintransport passage to the main transport passage, and for transportingthe paper slips along the main transport passage.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

A pachinko (Japanese pinball) hall has a plurality of pachinko islands,each of which comprises a plurality of pachinko machine for playinggames with pachinko balls, a plurality of ball lending machines foraccepting a bill and dispensing as many pachinko balls as the number ofballs corresponding to the denomination of the bill, a cashbox forstoring the bills input to the ball lending machines, and a billtransport system for transporting the bills input to the ball lendingmachines to the cashbox. The pachinko island has the pachinko machinesand the ball lending machines arranged alternately in a row for defininga pachinko machine row. The bill transport system is disposed along thepachinko machine row behind the row.

As shown in FIG. 14, the bill transport system has a guide passage I forguiding paper slips from the ball lending machine to a main transportpassage M in addition to the main transport passage M disposed in linealong the pachinko machine row. The main transport passage M is providedwith an endless belt 25 along the transport passage M and pressurerollers 27 and 28 so as to face the endless belt 25. In the maintransport passage M, bills are sandwiched between the endless belt 25and the pressure rollers 27 and 28 and the sandwiched bills aretransported by driving the endless belt 25. On the other hand, a feedroller 91 is placed on the guide passage I so that a part of the feedroller projects into the inside of the guide passage I. The feed roller91 is linked with the pressure roller 27 and a belt 92 placed downstreamfrom the main transport passage M when the guide passage I is consideredto be the center of the main transport passage M. In the guide passageI, bills guided thereinto are sent to the main transport passage M bythe feed roller 91 rotated by rotation of the pressure roller 27.

However, in such a related art, the driving force of the endless belt 25is transmitted to the feed roller 91 via the two pressure rollers 27 andthe belt 92, which are power transmission members, and in addition,power is transmitted by a friction force between the endless belt 25 andthe pressure rollers 27, between the pressure rollers 27 and the belt92, and between the belt 92 and the feed roller 91. Thus, the drivingforce of the endless belt 25 cannot be efficiently transmitted to thefeed roller 91 and sometimes bills may be unable to be transportedthrough the guide passage I.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a paper sliptransport system that can efficiently transmit the driving force of anendless belt to feed rollers for securely transporting paper slipsthrough guide passages.

To this end, according to the invention, there is provided a paper sliptransport system for guiding paper slips from paper slip dischargers,scattered along a main transport passage to the main transport passage,and transporting the paper slips along the main transport passage, thetransport system comprising:

a long endless belt being placed along the main transport passage andhaving an outer peripheral surface coming in contact with one of frontand rear faces of the paper slips transported along the main transportpassage;

a belt drive mechanism for turning the endless belt;

a plurality of pressure rollers being scattered along the main transportpassage and having outer peripheral surfaces coming in contact with theother of front and rear faces of the paper slips transported along themain transport passage for pressing the paper slips against the endlessbelt;

guide passage members each formed with an internal guide passage forguiding paper slips from the paper slip discharger to the main transportpassage;

feed rollers each having a rotating shaft perpendicular to a transportdirection of the paper slips and parallel to the paper slips beingtransported and having at least a part entering the inside of the guidepassage member so that the outer peripheral surface of the feed rollercomes in contact with one of front and rear faces of the bills arrivingat the guide passage from the paper slip discharger;

swing arms each having the other end attached to the rotation shaft sothat one end of the swing arm can swing in a direction approaching theendless belt with the rotating shaft of the feed roller as the center;and

urging members each for urging the one end of the swing arm in thedirection approaching the endless belt, wherein

the pressure roller placed near the guide passage among the pressurerollers is attached rotatably to the swing arms so that the outerperipheral surface of the pressure roller comes in contact with theouter peripheral surface of the feed roller.

In the paper slip transport system, when no paper slips are transported,each pressure roller attached to the swing arms comes in contact withthe endless belt because one end of each of the swing arms is urged inthe direction approaching the endless belt by the urging member.Therefore, if the endless belt moves, the pressure roller rotates. Whenthe pressure roller rotates, the feed roller coming in contact with thepressure roller also rotates.

When a paper slip is fed into the guide passage from the paper slipdischarger after the endless belt is moved, it comes in contact with therotating feed roller and is sent to the main transport passage where thebill is transported in a state in which it is sandwiched between theendless belt and the pressure roller.

Thus, the feed roller is rotated directly by the pressure roller rotatedby the motion of the endless belt, whereby bills in the guide passageare transported. Therefore, the driving force of the endless belt can betransmitted efficiently to the feed roller. Since no belt placementspace is required between the feed roller and the pressure roller, themechanism for transporting bills in the guide passage can beminiaturized.

In the paper slip transport system,

preferably the guide passage formed inside the guide passage member isshaped so as to bend in a downstream direction of the main transportpassage gradually as it approaches the main transport passage in orderto smoothly guide paper slips from the paper slip discharger to the maintransport passage, and

the feed rollers, the swing arms, the pressure rollers, and the urgingmembers are placed upstream of the main transport passage with the guidepassage as the center.

When the guide passage is shaped so as to bend in the downstreamdirection of the main transport passage gradually as it approaches themain transport passage in order to smoothly guide paper slips from thepaper slip discharger to the main transport passage, the angle which theguide passage forms with the main transport passage becomes acuteupstream of the main transport passage with the guide passage as thecenter and only a narrow space is formed therebetween; this place isprone to become a dead space. Since the mechanism, including the feedroller, etc., for transporting paper slips in the guide passage isdisposed upstream of the main transport passage when the guide passageis considered to be the center of the main transport passage, theeffective use of places prone to become dead spaces can be made.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a transport system in the proximity of aguide passage in one embodiment according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the transport system in the proximity ofthe guide passage in the embodiment according to the invention wheremembers such as a transport passage member are omitted;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a feed roller, a pressure roller, etc.,in the embodiment according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a pachinko machine island according tothe invention;

FIG. 5 is a side view of the pachinko machine island according to theinvention;

FIG. 6 is a front view of a transport unit and a guide unit according tothe invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on line II--II in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken on line VIII--VIII in FIG. 10;

FIG. 9 is a front view of the guide unit according to the invention;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the guide unit according to theinvention;

FIG. 11 is a front view of the transport unit according to theinvention;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken on line XII--XII in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken on line XIII--XIII in FIG. 11; and

FIG. 14 is a sectional view in the proximity of a guide passage of aconventional paper slip transport system.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 4, a pachinko machine island comprises a plurality ofpachinko machine 10, 10, . . . for playing games with pachinko balls, aplurality of ball lending machines 11, 11, . . . for accepting a billand dispensing as many pachinko balls as the number of ballscorresponding to the denomination of the bill, a cashbox 21 for storingthe bills input to the ball lending machines 11, 11, . . . , and a billtransport system 5 for transporting the bills input to the ball lendingmachines 11, 11, . . . to the cashbox 21. The pachinko machines 10, 10,. . . and the ball lending machines 11, 11, . . . are arrangedalternately in a row for defining a pachinko machine row 11a. Thepachinko machine island has two pachinko machine rows 11a and 11a spacedfrom each other at a given interval and placed back to back in parallel,as shown in FIG. 5. The bill transport system 5 is disposed along thepachinko machine row 11a between the two pachinko machine rows 11a and11a. The cashbox 21 is placed at one end of the two pachinko machinerows 11a and 11a.

As shown in FIG. 4, the ball lending machine 11 has a bill validationsection 12 for determining the validity and denomination of a bill and aball dispensing section 12a for dispensing as many pachinko balls as thenumber of balls corresponding to the denomination of the bill determinedby the bill validation section 12. The bill validation section 12 isformed with a bill slot 13 at a position on the front of the balllending machine 11 and a bill outlet 14 at a position on the rear of theball lending machine 11.

The bill transport system 5 defines a linear charge collection line 20along the rear of each pachinko machine row 11a. A drive pulley 22 and adriven pulley 23 are placed on both ends of the charge collection line20. An endless belt 25 having a circular cross section is placed on thepulleys 22 and 23. Pairs of pressure rollers 27 and 28 between which theendless belt 25 is sandwiched are disposed between the drive pulley 22and the driven pulley 23. A tension pulley 24 for adjusting the tensionof the endless belt 25 is disposed near the drive pulley 22.

In addition to the components such as the pulleys 22 and 23 and theendless belt 25, the bill transport system 5 comprises transport units30, 30, . . . for defining a main transport passage M to transport billsalong the endless belt 25 and transporting the bills to the cashbox 21along the main transport passage M and a plurality of guide units 40,40, . . . for guiding bills from the ball lending machines 11, 11, . . .to the main transport passage M, as shown in FIG. 6.

The transport units 30 and the guide units 40 forming a part of thecharge collection line 20 are supported from top and bottom by couplingguide members 46 and 47, pachinko island main body frames, as shown inFIG. 5. The top and bottom coupling guide members 46 and 47 aresupported on side wall plates 15 of the ball lending machines 11 viamounting hardware pieces 81 and 82.

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the transport unit 30 comprises a transportpassage member 31 for surrounding transported bills from top and bottomand left and right and defining the main transport passage M, jointmembers 35 and 35 disposed on both ends of the transport passage member31 in the bill transport direction, and the above-mentioned pressurerollers 27 and 28.

As shown in FIG. 12, the transport passage member 31 has a firsttransport passage definition section 33 for defining main transportpassage M1 for the pachinko machine row on one side and a secondtransport passage definition section 34 for defining main transportpassage M2 for the pachinko machine row on the other side with theendless belt 25 as the center and a separation section 32 for separatingthe first transport passage definition section 33 and the secondtransport passage definition section 34. The above-mentioned pressurerollers 27 and 28 are placed on one pachinko machine row side and theother side with the endless belt 25 as the center so as to come incontact with the endless belt 25. Each of the pressure rollers 27 and 28has a rotating shaft perpendicular to the direction in which the maintransport passage M extends-and parallel to transported bills S. Thepressure roller 27, 28 has an outer peripheral surface formed with arecess where an intermediate part in the direction parallel to therotating shaft is dented toward the rotating shaft. The recess is gentlybent corresponding to the circular sectional shape of the endless belt25 in almost the same curvature. The pressure roller 27, 28 is coveredwith a pulley mounting plate 36, 36 and has the rotating shaft fittedthereto. Each of the transport passage definition sections 33, 34 of thetransport passage member 31 has side walls 31a, 31a formed withopenings. The pulley mounting plate 36 is fitted to the side wall 31a soas to block the openings of the side wall 31a. As shown in FIG. 13, oneend 36a of the pulley mounting plate 36 in the bill transport directionis fitted to a plate mounting part formed on one opening margin of theside wall 31a so that it can swing with the plate mounting part as thecenter. The other end of the pulley mounting plate 36 in the transportdirection is formed with an engagement part 36b that can be engaged withand disengaged from a hook part 31b formed on the other opening marginof the side wall 31a.

A joint member 35 has coupling rail parts 37 and 38 extending in thebill transport direction on the top and bottom of an end of thetransport passage member 31 in the transport direction. The couplingrail parts 37 and 38 are formed with long holes 37a and 38a cut throughfrom one pachinko machine row side to the other side and elongated inthe bill transport direction.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the guide unit 40 has a transport passagemember 42 for forming a part of the main transport passage M and a guidepassage member 41 formed with a guide passage I for guiding bills fromthe bill outlet 14 of the ball lending machine 11 to the main transportpassage M. The transport passage member 42 has a similar cross sectionalshape to that of the transport passage member 31 of the transport unit30 as shown in FIGS. 12, 10, and 8. When the guide unit 40 and thetransport unit 30 are coupled, their transport passage members 42 and 31are abutted. FIG. 8 does not show the cross section of the transportpassage member 42. The guide passage member 41 has a guide section 41xwhich is formed with a bill inlet 43 communicating with the bill outlet14 of the ball lending machine 11 and which gradually bends in thedownstream direction of the main transport passage M as it approachesthe main transport passage M and a confluence section 41y whichcommunicates with the guide section 41x and is placed inside thetransport passage member 42 forming a part of the main transport passageM. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 10, the confluence section 41y has a partprojecting in the transport destination direction from the transportpassage member 42. When the guide unit 40 and the transport unit 30 arecoupled, the projections of the confluence section 41y are fitted intothe transport passage member 31 of the transport unit 30 to secure billtransfer from the guide unit 40 to the transport unit 30, as shown inFIGS. 6 and 7.

Both the transport passage member 42 and the guide passage member 41 ofthe guide unit 40 are coupled to the top coupling guide member 46 andthe bottom coupling guide member 47 by screws 45, 45, . . . , as shownin FIGS. 6 and 10. The coupling guide members 46 and 47 are formed withgrooves 46a and 47a elongated in the bill transport direction, intowhich the coupling rail parts 37 and 38 of the transport unit 30 can befitted. Like the coupling rail parts 37 and 38 of the transport unit 30,the coupling guide members 46 and 47 are formed with elongated holes 45aand 45a cut through from one pachinko machine row side to the other sideand elongated in the bill transport direction.

As described above, the guide unit 40 is coupled with the transport unit30 in a state in which the confluence section 41y of the guide member 41of the guide unit 40 is fitted into the transport passage member 31 ofthe transport unit 30 and the transport passage member 42 of the guideunit 40 and the transport passage member 31 of the transport unit 30 areabutted. The coupling rail parts 37 and 38 of the transport unit 30 arefitted into the grooves 46a and 47a of the coupling guide members 46 and47 connected to the guide unit 40 by the screws 45. Screws are insertedinto the elongated holes 45a and 45a of the coupling guide members 46and 47 and the elongated holes 37a and 38a of the coupling rail parts 37and 38 of the transport unit 30 for coupling the coupling guide members46 and 47 and the transport unit 30 by the screws. By the way, since theelongated holes 45a, 37a, . . . into which the screws are inserted, areelongated in the bill transport direction, the relative positionalrelationship between the transport unit 30 and the coupling guidemembers 46 and 47 in the bill transport direction can be adjusted.Therefore, the relative positional relationship, in the bill transportdirection, of the guide unit 40 fixed to the coupling guides 46 and 47by the screws 45, with the transfer unit 30, can also be adjusted.

As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the guide unit 40 further includes pressurerollers 27, 28 placed on both sides of the endless belt 25, feed rollers70, 70 placed upstream of the main transport passage M with the guidepassage I defined by the guide passage member 41 as the center, swingarms 74 and 74 mounted swingably on rotating shafts 73, 73 of the feedrollers 70, 70, coil springs 75 and 75 for urging the swing arms 74 and74 in a direction approaching the endless belt 25, and a case 76covering the components. One feed roller 70 has a feed drive roller 71coming in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the pressureroller 27, feed driven rollers 72, 72 each having a part facing theinside of the guide passage I and coming in contact with bills S passingtherethrough, and their rotating shaft 73. The feed drive roller 71 isshaped like a barrel with the longitudinal center of the rotating shaft73 swelling in a direction going away from the rotating shaft 73 toenlarge the contact area with the pressure roller 27 whose outerperipheral surface is dented. The feed driven roller 72 is shaped likean equilateral triangle having round vertexes. The feed driven rollers72 and 72 are fixed to both ends of the barrel-shaped feed drive roller71. The feed drive roller 71 and the feed driven rollers 72 and 72 arefitted to the rotating shaft 73 so that they can rotate unitedly withrespect to the rotating shaft 73. The distance from the rotating shaft73 to the part corresponding to the vertex of the feed driven roller 72shaped like substantially a regular triangle is larger than that fromthe rotating shaft 73 to the outer peripheral surface of thebarrel-shaped feed drive roller 71. The part corresponding to the vertexof the feed driven roller 72 faces the inside of the guide passage I andcomes in contact with bills passing therethrough. The rotating shaft 73is attached to the case 76 so as to extend in a direction perpendicularto the bill transport direction in the guide passage I and becomeparallel to the bills.

To make one end swing in a direction approaching the endless belt 25,the swing arm 74 has the other end attached to the rotating shaft 73 ofthe feed roller 70. A rotating shaft 27a of the pressure roller 27 isattached to the swing arm 74 so that the outer peripheral surface of thepressure roller 27 comes in contact with the outer peripheral surface ofthe feed driver roller 71. The coil spring 75 has one end attached tothe other end of the swing arm 74 and the other end attached to the case76.

The case 76 is formed with a notch 76a for allowing the outer peripheralsurface of the feed roller 70 to project beyond the case 76. The case 76to which the feed roller 70, the pressure roller 27, the swing arms 74,and the coil springs 75 are attached is fixed to the guide passagemember 41 and the transport passage member 42 so as to come in contactwith the members 41 and 42 upstream of the main transport passage M withthe guide passage I as the center, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 10.

The guide passage member 41 is formed with a notch 41a for allowing theouter peripheral surface of the feed roller 70 to face the inside of theguide passage I and the transport passage member 42 is also formed witha notch 42a for allowing the outer peripheral surface of the pressureroller 27 to face the inside of the main transport passage M.

Next, the operation of the transport system 5 of the embodiment will bediscussed.

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the pressure rollers 27 and 28 has the outerperipheral surface coming in contact with the outer peripheral surfaceof the endless belt 25 and rotates whenever the end belt 25 operates.The feed drive roller 71 of the guide unit has the outer peripheralsurface coming in contact with the outer peripheral surface of thepressure roller 27 of the guide unit and always rotates so long as thepressure roller 27 rotates. Therefore, the feed driven rollers 72 fixedto both ends of the feed drive roller 71 also always rotate so long asthe pressure roller 27 rotates.

When a bill enters the guide passage I of the guide unit 40 from theoutlet 14 of the ball lending machine 11, it comes in contact with thefeed driven rollers 72. The important point is that the guide passage Iis bent as described above. Thus, the bill entering the guide passage Iswells to the feed roller side and always comes in contact with thebill, which comes 71. The bill, which comes in contact with the rotatingfeed driven rollers 71, is transported to the main transport passage M.

When the bill S arrives at the main transport passage M, it issandwiched between the endless belt 25 and the pressure roller 27 and istransported in the main transport passage M to the cashbox 21. In thisprocess, when the bill S being transported in the main transport passageM arrives near a guide passage I downstream from the guide passage 1into which the bill S is fed, it is sandwiched between the pressureroller 27 of the guide unit 40 providing the downstream guide passage Iand the endless belt 25 and is transported furthermore downstream, asshown in FIG. 1. At this time, the pressure roller 27 comes off theendless belt 25, but is urged in the direction approaching the endlessbelt 25 by the coil springs 75, so that the bill S is pressed againstthe endless belt 25 by the pressure roller 27 and can be allowed to comein contact with the endless belt 25.

Thus, in the embodiment, the feed roller 70 is rotated directly by thepressure roller 27 rotated by the motion of the endless belt 25, wherebybills in the guide passage I are transported. Therefore, the drivingforce of the endless belt 25 can be transmitted efficiently to the feedroller 70. Since no belt placement space is required between the feedroller 70 and the pressure roller 27, the mechanism for transportingbills in the guide passage I can be miniaturized.

The angle which the guide passage I forms with the main transportpassage M becomes obtuse downstream from the main transport passage Mwith the guide passage I as the center and a wide space can be provided;it is desired to use the space as occupation space of other machinesthan the pachinko machine, transport system 5, etc. Particularly, thistendency is strong in the proximity of the cashbox, and the trouble toextend the main transport passage M may be taken to provide a wide spaceon both sides of the main transport passage M in the proximity of thecashbox. On the other hand, the angle which the guide passage I formswith the main transport passage M becomes acute upstream of the maintransport passage M with the guide passage I as the center and only anarrow space is formed therebetween; the place is prone to become a deadspace. Since the embodiment provides the mechanism, including the feedroller 70, etc., for transporting bills in the guide passage I upstreamof the main transport passage M with the guide passage I as the center,the effective use of places prone to become dead spaces can be made andthe need for taking the trouble to extend the main transport passage Mis eliminated.

In the embodiment, the feed driven rollers 72 come in contact with billsin the guide passage I for transporting the bills. However, the feeddriven rollers 72 may be omitted and the feed drive roller 71 may have aslightly enlarged diameter so as to come in contact with a bill in theguide passage I for directly transporting the bill.

In the guide passage I, to increase the contact of the feed roller 70with bills, a paper slip pressure member such as a pressure roller maybe provided at a position opposed to the feed roller 70.

We claim:
 1. A paper slip transport system for guiding paper slips frompaper slip dischargers scattered along a main transport passage to themain transport passage and transporting the paper slips along the maintransport passage, said transport system comprising:an endless beltplaced along said main transport passage and having an outer peripheralsurface coming in contact with one of front and rear faces of the paperslips transported along said main transport passage; a belt drivemechanism for turning said endless belt; a plurality of pressure rollersscattered along said main transport passage and having outer peripheralsurfaces coming in contact with the other of front and rear faces of thepaper slips transported along said main transport passage for pressingthe paper slips against said endless belt; guide passage members eachformed with an internal guide passage for guiding paper slips from arespective one of said paper slip dischargers to said main transportpassage; feed rollers each having a rotating shaft perpendicular to atransport direction of the paper slips in a respective one of said guidepassages and parallel to the paper slips being transported and having atleast a part entering the inside of a respective one of said guidepassage members so that an outer peripheral surface of each of said feedrollers comes in contact with one of front and rear faces of the paperslips arriving at the respective guide passage from the respective paperslip discharger; swing arms each having one end attached to a respectiveone of said rotating shafts so that the other end of said each swing armcan swing in a direction approaching said endless belt with therespective rotating shaft of said feed roller as the center; and urgingmembers each for urging said other end of a respective one of said swingarms in the direction approaching said endless belt, wherein each saidpressure roller is located adjacent a respective one of the guidepassages and is attached rotatably to a respective one of said swingarms so that an outer peripheral surface of said pressure roller comesin contact with the outer peripheral surface of a respective one of saidfeed rollers.
 2. The paper slip transport system as claimed in claim 1wherein the guide passages formed inside said guide passage members areshaped so as to gradually bend in a downstream direction of said maintransport passage as the guide passages approach said main transportpassage in order to smoothly guide paper slips from the respective paperslip discharger to said main transport passage, and whereinsaid feedrollers, said swing arms, said pressure rollers, and said urging membersare located on an upstream side of a respective one of said guidepassages.